Inventory — Blog — Calyx Living

Summertime is traditionally slower in our region’s real estate market, as Seattleites pause and take time to enjoy the warm weather, families spend more time together with kids out of school, and residents leave for summer vacay and other fun activities. However, this summer “the total number of single-family homes on the market jumped an eye-popping 43 percent in June from a year ago across King County, the biggest increase since the housing bubble and burst a decade ago,” according to the Seattle Times.

Six Reasons to Buy in the Spring

We are officially in Spring, which means we’ve also entered an excellent time of year for buyers to purchase their next homes. In celebration of the spring selling season, I’ve put together a list of the six top reasons why you should consider making your next move.

Seattle Real Estate in a Nutshell: The Market is Hot. Is it Time to Make Your Move?

As we move into summer selling season, the Seattle real estate market shows no sign of slowing the rapid growth it has seen over the past few years. We are seeing an influx of new residents to the city, historically low inventory and a strong economy, which are bolstering a highly competitive housing market.

Belltown/Downtown

Belltown and Downtown combined are, in multiple ways, unlike any other area of Seattle or the broader Puget Sound region. Firstly, the area is completely urbanized: there is no single-family housing left downtown. Secondly, this area is ground zero for the widely-discussed "Condominium Conundrum" in Seattle, where nearly all multifamily construction in recent years has been allocated for apartments. As a result, the number of downtown sales is historically low amidst the greatest run-up in home prices in the city's history.

Central Seattle

This area comprises a diverse patchwork of both affluent and middle-income neighborhoods northeast of downtown. Some, including Madison Park, Denny Blaine, and Leschi, offer frontage on Lake Washington; but Capitol Hill and Madison Valley are also included. There were $998 million in single-family home sales in Central Seattle in 2017, at a median selling price of $877,000−13.2 percent higher than the 2016 annual median price of $775,000.

Queen Anne/Magnolia

In 2017, the median single-family home price of $946,000 in Queen Anne and Magnolia, highest among all eight areas of Seattle, was just 5.8 percent greater than the 2016 median price of $894,100. Due to comparatively few annual sales in these desirable neighborhoods (772 in 2017), selling volume was $846.2 million—least among the city’s affluent northern areas.

Ballard/Greenlake

There were $1.72 billion in single-family home sales in the Ballard and Green Lake area of Seattle, at a median selling price of $750,000. This was 13.6 percent higher than the 2016 annual median price of $659,950, just short of advancing home prices in neighboring North Seattle.

West Seattle

In 2017, the number of single-family home sales in West Seattle was exactly one more than in 2016, respectively 1,671 to 1,670. Note that some variance will be found among our West Seattle statistics and those obtained directly from the NWMLS.

North Seattle

Single-family home selling volume reached $1.04 billion in North Seattle, at a median selling price of $776,000, 14.1 percent higher than the 2016 annual median price of $680,000.

Southeast Seattle

In 2017, the number of first-quarter single-family home sales in Southeast Seattle was up by 70 percent year over year (163 in 2017 Q1 vs 96 in 2016 Q1, a lackluster quarter). Sales had smoothed out by the end of 2017, which ended with 13.2 percent more sales than 2016 (762 to 673).